WM, part IV

headline of the BILD Zeitung (really trashy, but really widely read paper, I always get a kick out of the melodramatic headlines while walking by the newsstands):

So they already start talking about 2014.

A different paper reported on the outbreaks of violence on the "Fan-Meile," where 350,000 German fans gathered to watch the game in front of the Brandenburg Gate. There were 52 people arrested. But what didn't occur (which had happened after every German victory) were the lines of cars driving around with flags and honking through the city.

Other headlines: a 17-year old drunk fan was fished out of the Spree with a blood-alchohol reading of 2,27 Promille...fell from a bar along the water.

Oberbaumbrücke, nachts

Sitting along the Spree at night with friends and some beers, watching the U-Bahn cross the Oberbaumbrücke...

WM, part III

So as you probably know as well, Germany has made it one step further, and the game against Spain is tonight. As I write, no idea how that will go. We watched the last game in a packed-to-the-brim Biergarten on a HOT July day. Today's game is an evening game, and the weather turned cooler as well. Viel Glück, Deutschland!
Hope Germany will be in the game on Sunday, too! :)

Turkish Market

So lately I've been going to the Turkish Market on Maybachufer (along the Landwehr Kanal) regularly...It's on Tuesdays and Fridays, and usually pretty busy. I have to say...quality-wise it has nothing on the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market. But it's a pretty unique atmosphere.
Notice the Germany fan-items for sale near the sign for the market (the sign reads: "fairy-tale like shopping [märchenhaft]).

The goods range from more tourist-oriented jewelry and arts and crafts, to cheap "do-it-yourself" dentistry supplies, cheaper-than-cheap produce, to fabric, headscarves, clothing of all sorts, dried chickpeas or red lentils, spices, cheeses, sausages...a "Bio" (organic) stand here and there, a bakery or two...both of the German and of the Turkish kind.

at one end of the market you can sit and listen to street musicians and enjoy the food you got while shopping. There are quite a few little lunch items to tempt you...

Alltägliches (daily things)

Few random things:

Yesterday I went to the Neukölln outdoor public pool (2 Euros to get in), which is HUGE, with three different pools, including two more oriented towards kids which are shallow and have slides and fountains and things, and one more swimming-oriented pool. I thought it was interesting that the signs were all in Turkish and German (this neighboorhood has a lot of people of Turkish background). It was all really clean, just really busy. And German lap swimmers annoy me because they don't use lane lines, don't circle swim, and the majority of them understand "swimming" as "breast stroke," which includes more jerky outward movements which could potentially injure your poolmates than front crawl. Surprising. I experienced this with children once, too, that they are taught breast stroke instead of front crawl as the first stroke in swimming lessons. Strange cultural difference. Also the pool area includes a lot of grass for families to spread out with their towels, bring picnics, watever. Not sure if this is ever the case in the US since I'm from Minnesota and we don't have outdoor public pools. But my sense is that it is usually pool "deck" with lawn chairs and whatnot.

Today went into "downtown" (Mitte) to go see a documentary about the defeat of Berlin in 1945. Some really amazing images I hadn't seen before.

Germany now has a new President (Bundespräsident), the symbolic head of state, although the chancellor, Kanzlerin (Merkel) is the real politician. The new guy's name is Christian Wulff (above), and he is from the CDU, the Christian Democrats (more conservative). His predecessor stepped down a few weeks ago, which was rather a surprise. Here the BBC explains Koehler stepping down if you are interested.

Today is the second "Fußball freier Tag" (soccer-free day). Germany plays Saturday so people are getting geared up. Actually "Die Zeit," a good German newspaper, made a joke about how people tuned into the election of the new president because it happened to be on the day when there was no soccer:

"Neun Stunden lang verfolgten die Bürger am Fernsehen, im Radio, im Internet und auf der Straße die Wahl des neuen Staatsoberhauptes: Ein Public Viewing mit zwei gediegenen Herren in der Hauptrolle, die vorübergehend vergessen machten, dass die anderen Herren in Südafrika gerade Pause machten. Politik statt Fußball – an diese Wahl wird sich das Land noch lange erinnern."

more WM craziness

So, I am sure you all know by now as well that Germany won against England...but a feeling for the CRAZINESS here is hard to get from abroad. haha, I am standing amongst it and it's hard to describe. EVERY café and bar with a flatscreen TV (and there are increasingly more of them) gathers a CROWD during games. No seating room anywhere, you have to stand if you get anywhere late. Below you can see people right before the game, spilling out into the streets.
Lots of places not only have flatscreen TVs but also screens set up with projectors.

We happened to be walking through the Sternschanze in Hamburg as the national anthems were being sung...a district which is known for being really leftist/alternative, and usually not the kind of extreme soccer fan...But all bars and cafes were full. Below, however, is the evidence that we were in the Schanze...across the street from the bars full of soccer fans we saw a guy burning the German flag. We also heard that during the game (4 pm German time) there was a protest against "Fußball-Nationalism" at the University. You have to remember that waving the German flag, and such blatant displays of patriotism are still kinda extraordinary in Germany. (Not so much since the last WM, and soccer will stay an exception.)
Other examples of the craziness are countless. here is one at the train station. In addition to the normal display of departure time/train number you have the score!

And this picture below is SO typsich deutsch... NO supermarkets are open on Sundays except the one at the central train station (Hauptbahnhof). So look at the line after the game, of people loading up on more food, beer, etc to keep celebrating! Ha! We decided to go out and grab a pizza instead of grabbing groceries...

Hamburg!

With the high-speed ICE train Hamburg is less than two hours from Berlin...We went for a weekend for the Halbmarathon and to see my friend Klara and Lars, newlyweds :) They took us to the Alsterstrand for a little Grillparty, a gorgeous beach along the Alster, which goes from the harbor city of Hamburg out to the North Sea and then to the Atlantic... We couldn't have had better weather, and I think the German beer and Wurst ended up being good marathon fuel.

below: would you ever guess Hamburg, Germany if I showed you this picture?! :)

below: German beer refrigeration

We had this little stretch of beach all to ourselves, between willow trees which reached down to the water. You could definitely notice the tides, as the beach got much smaller while we were there, and then larger again. Kids had a great time playing on the branches. Beyond where we were is the FKK stretch of beach, where you may sunbathe if you prefer au naturel. :)

And after a day of beach-ing and beer-drinking and soccer-watching we were fit to run 21 kilometers through Hamburg...That was the sightseeing portion of the trip. :) Finished strong, Klara and Lars met us at the finish and treated us to some delicious ice cream.

The run started on the Reeperbahn, the famous (infamous?) red light district. By day it looks pretty normal, if not a little dirty. That stretch twice, then down along the harbor (lots of tourists who happened to be there and joined in with the spectators), then along the Binnenalster, through a district with lots of nice villas (and more shade!!). Kilometers are more fun to run, as they tick by faster. :)
post-race lunch...tired smiles :)

Fußball und WM-Wahn

WM = Weltmeisterschaft, the long German word for World Cup.

So...Fußball craziness is in full swing, both the US and Germany have made it into the next round, which I'm sure many of you know as well. It would be interesting to compare how it's being covered in the US, and a comparison of the fan culture would probably be the most interesting. :) Everyone is going CRAZY for soccer here, and the atmosphere is really fun and energetic, especially when Germany is playing, but Berlin also has so many immigrants from all over, each little bar has its own Greece or Turkey flag next to the German one.

We ended up watching the game at a semi-sketchy but totally fun little locale last night...improv outside a Getränkemarkt (a shop where you can buy beverages, alcoholic and non, in bulk) in Kreuzberg. Really interesting crowd, a mix of people probably nowhere to be found but in Kreuzberg, Berlin. The owners of the shop just set up a flatscreen TV outside and a few benches, and a crowd of maybe 40-50 people gathered around. We brought down some chairs from a friend's apt, other people sat on stacked beer crates or stood. Some people (like us) maybe didn't have a TV, but I think most people just wanted to be outdoors in public watching the game. Better atmosphere. You couldn't find a spot at ANY café or Biergarten or anything...we tried. :)

Earlier in the day we watched the US game at a bar/Biergarten along the Spree, where they made a beach and also set up a huge screen. (But the phenomenon of the Strandbar is maybe another topic.) Well, "watched" the US game doesn't really do it...the German channel was actually only showing the England game...and so we only got to watch the goal in replay at the end. :( We were a nice little group of about 6-7 Americans.

The display of patriotism is pretty extreme here, especially for Germans who usually NEVER wave flags or sing the anthem (although I haven't heard the anthem yet). Obnoxious black-red-gold outfits, tacky car-flags, unrestrained horn-blowing and screaming...I only expect it to escalate into obscenity if/when Germany progresses. The huge thing is the vuvuzela, this simple horn thing which I guess is popular in South Africa, and which is now for sale at every 1€ store).

i wish you could see this girl's outfit: black dress with red dress underneath, yellow tights...classy, really classy :)

Tübingen

After Emmendingen Michael's friend Philipp picked us up and we drove through the Schwarzwald (curvy, beautiful roads, Michael said "here's where they film those car commercials!") to Tübingen... a really cute little university town with old houses and a town square straight out of Grimms Märchen...

i don't know if it's a hunter or a soldier, but i thought my dad would be interested in the guy with the big rifle on the top left...maybe stag hunting. :)

wandering in the Schwarzwald

So we went on this walk to the Ruine Hochburg, the second-biggest ruin in Baden-Württemberg after the Schloss in Heidelberg...it was really amazing, and you could wander all around and through the ruin, no entrance fee and few other visitors. At the top they had a little stand where they were selling wine from a local vineyard, too. I had a glass of Weißburgunder (pinot blanc) for 2 Euros or so.

below: a view from the ruin with the hilly Schwarzwald in the back

we had fun tempting fate along the high walls of the Burg...

below: you can see some of the vineyards on the incline, then fields

Michael trying to look like a cow